PowerLite Home Cinema 5030UB

I started with a 5030ub and upgraded to a 6050ub for 4K and HDR support. I was immediately disappointed in the poor static tone mapping, and it felt like a downgrade from coming from a solid SDR projector before hand. I invested in building my own video processor for tone mapping using MadVR open source and video processor.org with a HDMI capture card and GPU. This is not for the faint of heart to setup, tune and calibrate, but the payoff is well worth it. I have a dedicated light treated home theater that benefits from high contrast. I have a 180" screen, and the 6050ub lights it up very well while achieving excellent contrast and shadow detail. I wouldn't say that natively without a video processor it is worth it at this point in time since projectors native tone mapping has come so far. I also added an HDFury inline which adds support for Dolby Vision using an HDR flag hack and is a really nice upgrade which means I have all the functionality of newer models with the excellent color, lens and contrast ratio. I am on my second bulb, which cost under $100. I echo others that say 3D is amazing and I agree, hands down destroys anything else I have ever seen. I would love love to side by side my setup with a Valerion Max to see how it compares, but I doubt it will given my configuration. Obviously technology moved forward and everything improves over time, but newer isn't always better.

Sounds like a custom CinemaScope screen with an aspect ratio around 2.66:1. I made a custom screen with an aspect of 2.35:1 and use a regular 16:9 projector on it, I just choose to crop the projector's image to only use the center. This is much like how a 16:9 TV shows horizontal black bars at the top and bottom during a widescreen movie, my projector always shows these bars so the image fits the wide screen. If you're looking into this hobby, there are a ton of variables that affect what projector is best for you. First of all, what is your budget? Are you willing to buy used? Is there a ceiling fixture that dictates how far the projector will sit from the screen, or do you know that distance? When you mention wanting to use the screen with the lights on, will that be your primary way of using it, or will you generally turn the lights off and only occasionally use it with ambient light? The level of ambient light in the room will directly control how good your image looks, so in a finished basement with presumably no or few windows I'd highly recommend using the projector with as many lights off as possible. As others have mentioned, the easiest way to do multiple format sizes on a screen like yours is to use a projector with a motorized zoom and lens memory, where you can set multiple predefined zoom positions to fit taller content like 16:9 TV to the screen height, leaving some of the screen unused on either side. These units tend to be $$$$, so I wouldn't necessarily expect that to be in your price range if you're just getting started and don't want to spend thousands of dollars.

Sure, I think you can do pretty well with that budget. What is the main media you plan on watching, movies, sports, TV shows? Your screen is more or less sized to be optimal for movies, which is also what I did. Probably any projector in your budget will not have advanced features like the lens memory I mentioned or the ability to blank the top and bottom bars, so instead you will control the projected aspect ratio by what video signal you feed it. If you use something like a Blu ray player, when you watch a movie that is widescreen, your projector will protect the 16:9 image just like a TV, but you won't really see the black bars because you'll zoom the lens to fit the actual image to the top and bottom of your white screen manually. Then if you want to watch a TV show or something that isn't the extra wide format, you'll want to zoom in, making the whole projected image smaller so the 16:9 content fits top to bottom on the screen. For all of this I'd recommend a projector with at least 1.5x zoom. Alternatively, you could feed your projector video signal from a home theater PC. That is what I do, and I can set the output resolution of my graphics card to the ratio of my 2.35:1 screen. This is definitely more involved in setup, but means that I have more control over the image and don't have to mess with Zoom as much. I have my biases about projectors, but the easiest units to place in a room are those with a feature called lens shift. This is much better than using keystone, which distorts the image and lowers the resolution. Instead, lens shift lets you place the projector parallel to the screen and move the projection lenses at the front to shift the image around on your wall without keystone. I personally chose a used Epson 5030UB because it has plenty of zoom, good color, and a huge range of lens shift. The biggest drawback is resolution (it's only 1080p), but if you don't sit too close that doesn't distract me. There's a lot to get right for a proper projector setup, but it sounds like you have a nice screen that would make the effort worth it! For reference, the website projectorcentral.com makes it easy to compare projectors, and they have a nice interactive throw calculator that can help you size the zoom and throw distance you need!

Years and years ago - like 8 at this point - I bought a  Epson 5030ub for $300cad. It was a fantastic deal. Still on same bulb, still runs perfectly. Its quiet, inky blacks, but in no way portable. If you are looking to set up a home theater, something like this would be perfect. You are not getting 4k for $300

Thanks for replying. I was just curious because currently I have an epson 5030ub that I believe is 2400 lumens. I have it in my living room with an ALR screen and while the picture is great it definitely struggles with ambient light still since it’s in the living room with lighting everywhere. I was thinking of doing some shopping around for something else with more lumens. I also wanted to add, how do you feel about short throw projectors? I see an epson one at 2200$ and 3600 lumens.

I know that $500 *sounds* like a lot of money. And it is. But that is an ***extremely*** low budget in the world of projectors. Yes, you're going to have to buy used, but that goes without saying. You're also going to need to pick some other pretty significant compromise to make. And in this case, IMO, you should forget about 4K or HDR. If you stick with 1080p SDR, there starts to be some pretty decent options with good picture quality in this price range. Chief amongst them would be the **Epson 5020UB and 5030UB:** https://www.projectorcentral.com/Epson-PowerLite_Home_Cinema_5020UB.htm https://www.projectorcentral.com/Epson-PowerLite_Home_Cinema_5030UB.htm They were the last and best of Epson's flagship 1080p home theater projectors. They are over a decade old. But they would have superior brightness, contrast, and color accuracy than pretty much anything else in the $500 range. Including anything that claims to do 4K in this price range. You can find used models for less than $500. Example listings: https://www.ebay.com/itm/205824351687 https://www.ebay.com/itm/306379935912 And it's quite easy and affordable to find replacement lamps for them that would restore them to full brightness: https://www.myprojectorlamps.com/projector-lamps/Epson/PowerLite%20Home%20Cinema%205020UB.html

1080p Epson and Panasonic LCD projectors from ~2008-2013 are an excellent value used. Great colors and contrast. The bulbs are cheap, and if you drop in a fresh one, you can get enough brightness for SDR content (50-75 nits). For Epson, the models to watch are the 6500UB, 8500UB, 8700UB, 5020UB, and 5030UB. For Panasonic, the models to watch are the PT-AE3000, PT-AE4000, PT-AE7000U, and PT‑AE8000U

Ouch, some pretty severe downvotes out the gate. I didn't downvote you, but I get why it happened. Your expectations for how much half-decent projection costs and how it preforms are pretty far off from the real situation. That's alright, but it would help to come back to reality. First, "smart" projectors in this price range are almost all crap. The **Nexigo PJ40** is the best amongst these, but that still doesn't mean it is good: https://www.amazon.com/NexiGo-PJ40-Pro-Projector-Enhancement/dp/B0FFP3RG53/ Feel free to buy it from Amazon, try it out, and return it when you realize it's not for you. I'm not saying this to make fun of you. It's a dead serious suggestion. There's a ton of people who are exactly like you: You want a compact, cheap, all-in-one solution. They see a ton of them on Amazon. Certainly, one of them must be decent, right? All the nerds on Reddit making blanket statements that they are all terrible are just being elitist, right? It helps to see for yourself and actually understand. As I said, just because the Nexigo PJ40 is the best of these doesn't mean it's actually good enough. You might end up deciding differently, and if that's the case, then great. I'm happy for you. As far as what my actual recommendation is, it would be to just continue borrowing that projector from the library for the rare occasions when you actually use it. Realistically, in a living room environment with a lot of light, you're going to use a projector way less than you think. But if you did want to buy a projector for a few hundred dollars, then my other actual recommendation would be to buy a used one. Ideally, something like an **old Epson 5020UB or 5030UB** for $300-500. And then count on spending another $100 on a new bulb for it. And these are not "smart" projectors (which is a good thing in my book), so count on spending another ~$30 on basic streaming box like the [Oon 4K Plus](https://www.walmart.com/ip/ONN-4K-PLUS/15557424949). So all in, it will cost about double of what you wanted to spend. But that really is the entry level for getting a good 1080p SDR home theater experience with projection.

Offhand I would be disappointed with the brightness on anything larger than 100" or in situations with any ambient light. I am sure most people here would want to know where you're using, how far away, how much ambient light, etc. Personally, I've learned my lesson and am not touching anything with so few usable lumens - seemingly around 1200. Contrast sounds pretty mediocre as well, which makes the low lumens even worse. Otherwise it's probably pretty nice and user friendly.

Personally I'm aiming for 2500 lumens "usable". That's a personal choice after purchasing and testing projectors rated for 500 lumens, 2500 lumens, and 5000 lumens, and a few different screen options. After testing the 5000 lumen projector, I'm a bit in love with brightness. Unrelated to projectors, I have recently painted my wall a darker blue with a 4% LRV (though eggshell choice likely increases the light reflectivity higher than 4%) - and the 5000 lumen projector on the wall looked surprisingly good still, even with both 3000 lumen overhead room lights on. Good contrast is tough for projectors, so rather than buying an expensive Epson 5050ub rated for 2600 lumens max, I'm leaning towards a low-gain screen combined with higher lumens, which helps both with contrast and ambient light. Most projector are noisy at full power though, so running in Eco mode cuts "usable" lumens by 25% or more. I just want a projector capable of 7k lumens and no fan noise for $1,000, is that so hard to do? Why can't physics bend to my will!

Ah, a 5030 is pretty good quality! If your ALR screen is legit, that's a pretty good combo for quality contrast, but reading a quick review, it sounds like "usable" lumens is likely 1600 or even less than 1000 if not using Dynamic mode and/or using Eco mode to help with fan noise. I haven't personally researched UST projectors much, but they have also made some big improvements recently, especially if combined with the right screen. Whatever you go for, make sure to try and find reviews with lumen ratings for the different modes. For "usable" lumens, I assume I'll be using Eco mode, unless the review states the fan is quiet enough on normal mode. Personally I'm leaning towards a Horizon Pro 20 (too poor for the Ultraor C3 Max, but could change my mind again by time i buy. I think either would get me in a decent "usable" lumen range, but are both a stretch on finances.

epaon 3050UB for me